STORIES 

from  the 

CONGO 

■  A<  $1  il  i  +£'>>  L 

C * 


American  Baptist  Foreign 
Mission  Society 

Ford  Building  ::  Boston,  Mass. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/storiesfromcongoOOIesl 


STORIES  from  the  CONGO 


Opening  a  New  Station 

THREE  fellow  missionaries,  Metzger, 
Moody  and  Bain,  met  me  at  Bandundu 
with  the  mission  steamer,  “  Henry  Reed.” 
We  came  up  the  Kwilu  River,  looking  care¬ 
fully  on  both  banks  for  a  suitable  site  for 
the  new  station.  After  two  weeks’  search, 
during  which  time  we  saw  more  people 
than  we  had  seen  in  any  part  of  the  Congo, 
we  decided  that  the  best  locality  was  that 
which  Mr.  Bain  and  I  recommended  last 
year.  After  several  days’  close  inspection 
of  the  locality  we  all  agreed  upon  this  mag¬ 
nificent  site  for  the  station  upon  a  ridge  of 
land  facing  the  river  and  a  hundred  meters 


Steamer  “  Henry  Reed  ” 


back  from  it,  with  springs  of  good  water 
close  by.  A  quarter  of  a  mile  distant  is  a 
large  village,  and  within  a  radius  of  five 
miles  there  are  eleven  other  villages.  The 
people  are  friendly,  quite  fearless,  industri¬ 
ous  and  abundantly  supplied  with  food.  A 
call  for  workmen  brought  more  than  I  could 
employ  at  about  thirty  cents  a  week.  We 
began  to  clear  for  building,  as  the  place  was 


an  impenetrable  jungle.  In  ten  days  we 
had  eleven  acres  of  land  cleared,  four  acres 
of  corn  planted  and  the  frame  put  up  for 
a  temporary  house  52  x  28  feet.  After  the 
other  missionaries  had  departed  I  remained 
three  weeks  to  finish  a  place  fit  to  bring  my 
wife,  who  had  remained  alone  at  Cuillo. 

While  moving  to  the  new  station  I  at¬ 
tempted  with  the  help  (rather  without  the 
help)  of  a  native  to  take  half  a  ton  or  more 
of  our  goods  on  a  raft  down  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Cuillo  to  meet  the  iron  boat  that  the 
State  kindly  sent.  The  raft  was  heavily 
loaded,  the  river  very  high,  the  native  failed 
to  give  me  help  at  a  bad  point  and  the  raft 
upset  and  all  our  stuff  was  lost  except  a  few 
small  pieces.  The  mail  for  America  and 
the  Lower  Congo  was  in  my  hand  bag  and 
went  down  with  the  rest.  We  feel  worst 
over  my  medical  library  as  almost  every 
book  was  lost  and  it  will  be  difficult  to  re¬ 
place  the  books. 

The  commissaire  of  the  district  came  to 
the  station  just  before  I  left  to  tell  me  that 
the  Jesuits  of  Wambali  were  making  a  ter¬ 
rible  fuss  about  our  locating  here.  They 
threaten  to  carry  the  matter  to  Brussels. 

The  people  here  are  of  three  different 
tribes,  one  of  them  being  a  cannibal  tribe 
and  the  others  reported  to  have  a  leaning 
that  way.  But  they  are  all  friendly.  The 
prospects  for  immediate  work  are  of  the 
brightest  and  I  can  scarcely  wait  the  time 
that  must  elapse  before  we  settle  down  to 
steady  work.  We  are  delighted  to  hear  of 
a  coworker  for  us  for  this  magnificent  field. 
We  assure  him  a  hearty  welcome  and  plenty 
of  hard  work.  —  W.  H.  Leslie,  M.O.,  Cuillo, 
Portuguese  Congo. 


Mission  House  and  Students’  Homes,  Kimpesi 


A  Theological  Seminary  in  the  Heart 
of  Africa 

THE  Congo  Evangelical  Training  Institu¬ 
tion  at  Kimpesi  is  only  four  years  old, 
but  it  has  had  a  remarkable  growth.  An 
African  jungle  of  woods  and  great  tall  grasses 
has  been  changed  into  a  beautiful  mission 
station  with  streets  well  laid  out  and  a  good 
road  to  the  railroad  station,  one  mile  away. 
The  two  lonely  grass  houses  built  for  the 
temporary  accommodation  of  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  have  given  place  to  two  fine  mis¬ 
sion  residences,  and  a  third  house  for  visitors 
built  entirely  of  brick.  In  place  of  the 
grass  houses  built  by  the  first  entering  class 
there  are  ten  double  brick  houses  for  the 
students.  A  large  storeroom,  a  dispensary, 
a  barter  store,  two  temporary  classrooms,  a 
carpenter  shop,  a  blacksmith  shop  and  a 
large  iron  house  for  the  native  workmen  have 
also  been  built. 

The  jungle  has  been  transformed  into  a 
garden  producing  the  finest  of  native  and 
European  vegetables.  The  original  grant 
of  thirty  acres  has  been  increased  to  eighty. 
With  a  beautiful  view  of  the  mountains, 
fertile  soil,  a  central  location  and  nearness 
to  the  railroad,  Kimpesi  provides  an  ideal 
place  for  the  Congo  Evangelical  Training 
Institution. 

The  school  opened  this  year  (1912-1913) 
with  twenty -four  native  teachers  and  twelve 
wives  in  attendance.  There  is  not  accom- 


5 


modation  for  a  large  attendance.  If  there 
wefe  sufficient  houses  for  a  very  large  num¬ 
ber  it  is  doubtful  if  that  would  be  desirable. 
Rather  ten  trained  men  who  will  go  back  to 
lead  their  people  into  a  better  life  than  a 
hundred  who  might  be  discontented  with  their 
lot  as  teachers  and  preachers  and  seek  after 
positions  where  they  could  earn  more  money. 
There  are  many  tempting  offers  placed 
before  the  men  who  leave  this  school  in  the 
way  of  clerkships  with  traders,  state  officials 
and  with  the  railroad.  The  various  mis¬ 
sion  stations  in  their  educational  work  pre¬ 
pare  young  men  for  such  positions  and  it  is 
gratifying  to  know  that  they  are  filling  these 
places  capably,  but  the  work  of  this  school 
is  to  train  men  and  women  for  distinctively 
Christian  service. 

The  greatest  problem  at  the  present  time 
is  to  secure  the  attendance  of  the  wives  of 
these  evangelists.  Some  have  not  come 
with  tbeir  husbands  because  the  rains  have 
just  begun  and  they  want  to  plant  their 
gardens  before  coming,  while  others  have 
no  desire  to  be  trained.  We  are  looking 
forward  to  the  day  when  these  women  will 
desire  to  fit  themselves  to  take  a  full  share 
in  the  work  in  which  their  husbands  are 
engaged,  —  the  building  up  of  the  Kingdom 
in  the  family  and  community  life  of  their 
own  people. 

Learning  to  Work 

Missionaries  on  the  Congo  must  not 

only  preach  the  gospel,  heal  the  sick 
and  train  Christian  preachers  and  evan¬ 
gelists,  but  they  must  also  train  the  natives 
to  work  with  their  hands.  At  each  of  the 
mission  stations  considerable  industrial  work 
is  done.  The  girls  are  taught  to  sew,  to  cook 
and  to  be  good  housekeepers,  while  the  boys 
and  men  are  taught  to  build  houses,  work  in 
metal,  make  bricks  and  many  other  useful 
occupations.  It  is  now  felt  that  the  time  is 
ripe  for  an  advance  step  in  the  establishment 


6 


of  two  centers  for  industrial  training.  Feeling 
that  Protestant  missionaries  in  Africa  have 
probably  not  given  due  place  to  industrial 
training,  our  Congo  Baptist  missionaries, 
being  of  the  opinion  that  it  was  time  we 
were  making  provisions  to  provide  for  this 
deficiency,  voted  at  their  last  conference 
that  they  are  heartily  in  favor  of  industrial 
training  and  requested  the  Board  to  desig¬ 
nate  men  for  this  work  as  soon  as  possible. 


Class  in  Carpentry 


“Heal  the  Sick” 


THE  hospital  at  Banza  Manteke  is  in  a 
little  building  scarcely  entitled  to  so 
dignified  a  name.  Yet  read  these  figures  of 
Dr.  Antony  Parsons,  covering  his  first  three 
months  in  this  hospital,  and  see  if  you  do 
not  think  a  medical  missionary  and  a  hos¬ 
pital  are  God’s  own  agencies  for  reaching 
the  people  with  a  gospel  of  healing,  of  mercy 
and  of  love. 


Patients, 

3,945 

Visits  to  villages. 

51 

Night  calls. 

30 

Hospital  patients, 

37 

Major  operations, 

2 

Minor  operations, 

7 

Surgical  dressings, 

600 

Equally  striking  is  the  work  of  Dr.  R.  W. 
Nauss  of  Sona  Bata,  also  a  new  recruit* 


The  outlook  for  the  medical  work  here  I 
think  is  very  encouraging.  We  are  seeking 
gradually  to  improve  our  dispensary.  Re¬ 
cently  I  have  been  given  six  huts  in  addition 
to  the  one  already  occupied,  to  be  used  as  a 
temporary  hospital  until  we  shall  be  fortu¬ 
nate  enough  to  get  something  better.  Many 
of  our  patients  come  several  days’  journey, 


Dr.  Parsons  Testing  for  Sleeping  Sickness 


and  the  sick  ones  must  naturally  be  housed 
and  cared  for  until  they  are  sufficiently 
strong  to  attempt  the  return  journey.  We 
have  already  done  a  number  of  quite  suc¬ 
cessful  operations  under  conditions  which 
surgeons  at  home  would  consider  impossible. 
The  expressions  of  astonishment  on  the 
part  of  the  natives  at  the  accomplishment  of 
the  miraculous,  as  it  seems  to  them,  are 
sometimes  amusing  and  often  very  pathetic. 

Missionaries  on  Tour  in  the  Jungles 


N  Friday,  July  19,  Mr.  Moody,  Mr. 


V-x  Wood  and  I,  with  a  party  of  about 
forty  helpers  and  carriers  and  two  mono¬ 
cycles,  started  for  a  tour  of  the  field.  Our 
first  Sunday  was  at  Mbominzoli,  where  we 
found  the  people  very  sad  because  a  fire  had 
burned  the  village,  leaving  only  a  few  houses 


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and  the  chapel.  The  people  turned  out  well 
to  the  services  and  we  had  a  communion 
service,  saw  some  inquirers  and  on  Monday 
saw  the  school  in  session. 

At  the  next  place  we  found  the  teacher 
tired  because  the  children  were  troublesome 
to  gather;  but  his  school  was  fair  and  there 
was  a  good  attendance  at  the  preaching 
service.  In  reaching  our  next  outpost, 
where  we  were  welcomed  with  shouting,  we 
had  difficulty  in  passing  through  a  swamp 
for  a  distance  of  one  and  a  half  miles.  Since 
my  last  visit,  this  village  had  built  a  good 
clay  chapel.  There  is  also  a  good  school 
here.  As  we  came  to  the  next  station  we 
were  met  by  the  children  and  the  people 
and  given  a  hearty  welcome.  Mankoto,  the 
teacher,  invited  us  to  sleep  in  his  house, 
which  we  did.  The  house  was  built  of  clay 
and  better  than  a  tent,  although  there  were 
other  occupants.  A  fowl  kindly  put  an  egg 
in  my  bed  the  first  day  and  a  rat  ran  under 
the  bed  when  I  was  about  to  retire.  This  is 
one  of  our  best  villages,  with  a  good  school 
and  a  progressive  teacher.  We  spent  two 
days  hearing  inquirers  and  conducting 
services. 

After  four  hours’  travel  through  the  forest 
we  came  to  another  village.  Here  there  is 
only  one  member.  We  held  services  in  an 
open  shed.  Here  messengers  came  from 
home  bringing  letters  and  good  things  to 
eat.  On  the  strength  of  these  we  came  to 
the  next  outpost.  Here  there  were  about 
three  hundred  people  at  the  morning  service, 
more  than  the  clay  chapel  would  hold.  I 
received  the  names  of  twenty  inquirers,  of 
whom  several  were  examined  for  baptism. 

Our  next  place  was  a  heathen  village  with¬ 
out  any  Christians  or  a  school  and  we  could 
feel  the  difference  in  the  atmosphere  as  we 
entered.  In  the  evening  there  was  some 
drinking,  and  an  inclination  to  quarrel  with 
our  young  men,  but  we  had  our  usual  serv¬ 
ices.  Our  next  stop  was  at  a  village  a  year 


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old.  We  were  heartily  welcomed  and  con¬ 
ducted  the  services  in  an  open  shed.  The 
people  had  been  too  busy  with  their  own 
gardens  and  houses  to  build  a  suitable  chapel 
and  school.  At  the  village  of  Mbaa  we  were 
asked  to  send  teachers.  Here  we  saw  the 
natives  making  canoes  by  felling  a  tree  with 
a  small  axe  and  then  with  an  adz  digging  out 
the  canoe. 

Our  third  Sunday  was  at  Mpobo  where  the 
people  requested  a  teacher,  but  we  doubt 
their  motives  in  this  case.  From  this  place 
we  attempted  a  new  road.  After  a  tramp 
of  nine  hours,  we  reached  Mushie  without 
seeing  a  single  soul  and  only  a  few  buffaloes 
in  the  distance  and  a  few  birds.  We  were  dis¬ 
appointed  in  not  finding  more  people.  Such 
as  there  are  seem  more  or  less  crushed  and 
hopeless. 

The  next  outpost  being  twenty  miles 
down  the  river  we  borrowed  a  boat  and  all 
crowded  in.  Our  carriers  are  mostly  land¬ 
lubbers  and  so  made  a  poor  show  at  paddling, 
but  the  current  was  strong  and  took  us 
down.  We  called  at  Priest’s  wooding  post, 
but  it  did  not  look  prosperous.  We  an¬ 
chored  for  the  night  close  by  the  water’s 
edge  and  had  a  good  night.  The  following 


day  we  passed  a  group  (of^about  thirty  hip¬ 
popotamuses.  We  got  into  shallow  water 
and  had  to  be  dragged  over  sand  a  good 
distance.  When  we  did  get  into  deeper 
water  the  channel  became  narrow  and  the 
current  swift,  and  the  boat  hard  to  manage. 
Once  we  ran  into  a  fallen  tree  and  one  man 
was  hurt  and  a  paddle  was  lost.  All  went 
well  until  we  came  in  sight  of  our  landing, 
then  suddenly  our  steersman  saw  people  on 
the  beach  and  thought  we  had  better  land 
there,  and  so  put  the  boat  for  shore.  The 
current  was  too  strong  and  the  paddling 
too  weak  and  very  soon  we  were  bumping 
broadside  on  rocks.  When  it  looked  as  if 
we  must  be  swamped,  the  boat  stuck  fast 
and  out  jumped  Mingoli  (our  faithful  woman 
helper)  and  ordered  all  others  to  get  out  and 
hold  the  boat.  Between  us  and  shore  there 
was  a  distance  of  three  hundred  yards  and 
a  swift  current.  But  we  got  clear  of  the 
rocks  and  by  skill  and  hard  paddling  reached 
shore.  Some  of  us  felt  that  we  had  been 
delivered  from  death  and  lifted  our  hearts 
in  grateful  praise  to  Him  who  has  often  been 
our  refuge  and  strength  and  a  very  present 
help  in  trouble. 

After  visiting  other  outposts  and  after 
experiences  many  and  varied,  we  reached 
home  again  after  four  weeks  on  tour,  during 
which  time  we  traveled  some  two  hundred 
miles,  mostly  on  foot,  visited  forty  villages, 
preached  the  gospel  many  times,  interviewed 
many  inquirers  and  baptized  several.  This 
kind  of  work  is  like  “  casting  bread  upon  the 
waters  but  it  is  done  in  the  name  and 
power  of  Him  who  said  “  My  word  shall  not 
return  unto  me  void.”  Will  not  all  who 
read  this  story,  pray  for  us  and  the  work  ?  — 
A.  Billington,  Tshumbiri,  Belgian  Congo. 


1005.  —  1  Ed.  5M.  Feb.  1913.  Price  3  cents. 


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